British Airways is to launch a new direct route from London Heathrow to Pittsburgh from Tuesday 2 April 2019.

The airline will fly to Pittsburgh from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Pittsburgh International Airport four times weekly on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Flights will be operated with the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in a three class, Club World business class, World Traveller Plus premium economy and World Traveller economy configuration.

This will be the only direct route from London to Pittsburgh. Condor and Delta fly to Pittsburgh from Frankfurt and Paris Charles de Gaulle respectively on a summer seasonal basis. Wow Air also flies from Reykjavik year round.

BA previously flew from London Heathrow to Pittsburgh via Washington from May 1986 to June 1993. It was then operated from Gatwick until October 1999 using a US Air Boeing 767 aircraft and crew in BA colours.

This news continues a trend of BA launching one new transatlantic route from London Heathrow a year, all initially with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Previous route launches include Austin, San Jose, New Orleans and Nashville. All routes seem to have performed well, though San Jose was a target for tactical cancellations during recent Boeing 787 Dreamliner engine issues.

In terms of the prospect of further North America routes from London Heathrow, BA has previously said it expected to launch about five new routes with the 787. Any further route launches are likely to follow the trend of BA launching routes to cities not currently served by London, which rules out cities currently served by Delta such as Detroit, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City.